Yesterday's Transfer Deadline Day proved to be a bit of a damp squib as far as Yeovil Town business was concerned. Sometimes that can be a good thing - a number of seasons have seen us lose, or threaten to lose, a number of key players that have left our squad much weaker than it was on New Year's Day. The 2005-06 and 2007-08 seasons were particularly costly from that point of view, leading to somewhat ropey second halves to the seasons. For the 2010-11 season, we managed to strengthen, proving that it is possible for it to be a season changer, provided you have room to make changes.

This time around, apart from a slight flurry of expectation that we might squeeze in a defender during the evening, following the news that Paul Huntington's appeal against his suspension had failed, there weren't any big predictions of people coming in or people going out - that is unless you believed in some of the crazier names being bandied about.

The problem with the January transfer window from a Yeovil Town point of view is that we don't do transfer fees. We bring in free transfers, and we bring in loans. With most players in contract during the season itself, the number of players available for a permanent signing on a freebie is fairly minimal, and mostly of names that were getting released by rival clubs for good reasons, or those whose wages would be a mile out of our league. Then there's the players who hadn't even found a proper deal during the first half of the season - Gary Johnson appears to have been trialling a large number of those during the past week or two, but we are talking serious needle-in-a-haystack territory here.

In the lead-up to the window closing, Gary revealed that he was in principle after "one in each area", implying a defender, a midfielder and a striker were on his hit list.

His reasons for not moving for Stockport County midfielder Jonathon Routledge suggest that the 'midfielder' is more likely to be a wide man, which fits given that with Alan O'Brien gone we don't have too many old-fashioned wingers on our books. Retaining right-winger Billy Gibson, despite interest from Lincoln City suggests that area of the park is still viewed as a scarce commodity. So logic would suggest that things need strengthening on one of the current flanks, and probably both in the long run.

At the back, Huntington's absence highlights that we are short of centre-backs. Unless someone else comes in, we'll probably need to shuffle Luke Ayling into the centre to cover the captain's absence, but that then causes ripples down the right flank where Joe Edwards would need to come back and provide cover. But that in turn exposes the lack of options out wide, and could explain why Gibson was not let go.

Up front, Andy Williams has had an enjoyable January, and just as well given that we reached the turn of the year with a midfielder - Ed Upson - leading the scoring charts on five goals. None of Kieran Agard, Jonathan Obika and Steve MacLean are suggesting they have the strike rate to be Willo's partner on a long term basis. At present Obika appears to be favoured, although MacLean is the one of the three who has the best goals-per-minute ratio. One wonders if Johnson were to find a better loan striker, that Obika might be sacrificed and sent back to Tottenham Hotspur, even though he's currently ahead of Agard and MacLean in the pecking order.

And that pretty much describes Johnson's problem at the moment. With the squad currently carrying five loans, who are all worthy of a start in the team, strengthening the squad becomes difficult, and a bit of a juggling act. During the transfer window, bringing in freebies was difficult - the inclusion of left-back Kelly Youga in the squad was only possible because he'd been out of first team football for 20 months due to injury, and without a club for six months, all of which carries a risk.

There may be the odd free agent knocking about, but it's more likely that there will be greater quality in the loan market. However, that carries a penalty as well, as for each loan Johnson brings in, he either has to send a loan back, or have one of them sat in the stands every weekend. Our experience of having six or more loans on our books has not been good - Oli Johnson was the last and there was no doubt that his second spell with the Glovers was a failure.

This means that unless one of those free agents drops, then the only way forward may be to gradually swap in and swap out the four outfield loan players to strengthen the current squad. Johnson will have his hands tied on that basis until he reaches the summer, and can then truly stand a chance of shaping the squad the way he wants it to be done. It's not a perfect situation, but shows the problem of having a team that is already maxed out on loans.

Its a shame Alan O'Brian was allowed to leave before Mr Johnson came back we could do with his pace, another good player we have lost to the SPL along with Rory Fallon, not deemed good enough by Mr Skiverton! Its good to Haynes-Brown getting some game time.
08/02/2012 14:28:59

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